Cost guide · Updated July 2026
EV charging cost: home vs public, per kWh and per mile
By the CarBudget team · Verified sources at the bottom of the page
Charging an electric car at home costs roughly £13–£17 for a full charge of a typical 60 kWh battery at an average domestic rate — or as little as £4–£6 on an off-peak EV tariff. That works out at about 4–8p per mile, usually less than half the cost of running a petrol car (around 13–18p per mile). Public rapid chargers are far dearer: the same full charge can cost £25–£45. The single biggest factor in your cost is where you charge.
“How much does it actually cost to charge?” is the question every prospective EV owner asks — and the honest answer is: it depends entirely on where you plug in. Unlike petrol, where the price at every station is broadly similar, electricity to charge a car can vary five-fold between a cheap overnight home tariff and a motorway ultra-rapid charger. Understanding that spread is the key to knowing whether an EV will save you money. Let’s break it down.
What a full charge costs
The cost of a full charge is simply your battery size in kilowatt-hours (kWh) multiplied by the price you pay per kWh. Take a common 60 kWh battery:
- Home, standard rate: at around 25–28p/kWh, a full charge is roughly £13–£17.
- Home, off-peak EV tariff: at 7–10p/kWh overnight, the same charge is only £4–£6.
- Public rapid / ultra-rapid: at 45–75p/kWh, expect £25–£45 for a comparable charge.
In practice you rarely charge from 0–100%; most people top up within a 20–80% window, so real charge costs are often lower than a full 0–100% figure. Larger batteries (70–100 kWh) cost proportionally more to fill, but also go further, so the cost per mile is what really matters.
Home vs public vs rapid charging
Home charging is almost always the cheapest option, and it’s where most EV owners do the bulk of their charging. A dedicated home wallbox combined with an off-peak EV tariff can make “fuel” costs a fraction of petrol. The catch is that you need off-street parking and a charger installed.
Public slow and fast chargers (at workplaces, car parks and on-street) sit in the middle on price, and are sometimes free or subsidised. Rapid and ultra-rapid chargers — the ones that add hundreds of miles in half an hour on a motorway — are the most expensive per kWh by a wide margin. They’re built for convenience on long journeys, not everyday charging. An EV owner who charges mostly at home but rapid- charges occasionally on trips still comes out well ahead of petrol; someone who relies on rapid charging for everything may see the savings largely disappear.
Cost per mile vs petrol
Cost per mile is the fairest way to compare an EV with a petrol car, because it factors in efficiency. A typical EV manages around 3–4 miles per kWh:
- Home off-peak (8p/kWh, 4 mi/kWh): about 2p per mile.
- Home standard (27p/kWh, 3.5 mi/kWh): roughly 8p per mile.
- Public rapid (65p/kWh, 3.5 mi/kWh): around 18p per mile — similar to petrol.
By comparison, a petrol car doing 40 mpg at £1.40/litre costs roughly 16p per mile. So a home-charged EV can cost a half to a fifth of a petrol equivalent per mile, while an EV run purely on rapid chargers barely undercuts petrol. To model this alongside every other cost, try the car cost calculator, and see the maintenance side in the maintenance cost calculator.
How to calculate your own charging cost
Two simple formulas cover everything:
Cost of a charge = kWh added × price per kWh
Cost per mile = price per kWh ÷ efficiency (miles per kWh)
For example, adding 40 kWh at 30p/kWh costs £12; at an efficiency of 4 miles/kWh that’s 7.5p per mile. Your real efficiency varies with speed, weather and terrain — cold weather in particular reduces range — so the honest number comes from tracking your actual charges over time rather than the manufacturer’s figure.
How to charge more cheaply
- Charge at home overnight on a dedicated off-peak EV tariff — the single biggest saving.
- Use rapid chargers only when you need to, on long trips, not for everyday top-ups.
- Charge to 80% for daily use; it’s faster, cheaper per session and better for battery health.
- Compare charging networks — public prices vary a lot, and subscriptions can pay off if you charge out often.
- Drive efficiently — smooth driving and moderate speeds stretch every kWh further.
- Track every charge. Home and public sessions come from different tariffs, so CarBudget lets you log kWh and cost and see your true running cost per mile and per month.
Sources and methodology
The figures in this guide are based on published energy pricing and EV running-cost data:
- Domestic electricity prices and off-peak EV tariff rates: national energy price references (e.g. Ofgem price cap and published EV tariffs).
- Public and rapid charging prices per kWh: EV charging network price trackers (e.g. Zap-Map price index).
- EV efficiency (miles per kWh) and per-mile cost comparisons: motoring associations and EV cost-of-running guides.
- Petrol cost-per-mile comparison: pump prices and typical fuel economy figures.
Track your real charging cost
Home, work and rapid charging all cost differently. With CarBudget you log each charge in kWh and cost and see your true running cost per mile, per month and per year — petrol, hybrid and electric side by side.